From Stardom’s Shadow: A Stardom Photobook

This Stardom photobook is a very special one, as to date it is the only Stardom photobook that was fully photographed by one of their wrestlers – Kris Wolf. What many people don’t know about Kris is besides being a wrestler, carnivore, and teacher she also is a skilled photographer. This photobook came out in 2014, the same year that Kris Wolf debuted for the promotion. Before I get into why this is my favorite photobook from Stardom, a few details:

There are a number of reasons why this is my favorite Stardom photobook to date. First, just for a personal reason, the photobook is signed by none other than Kris Wolf herself. Kris is one of my favorite wrestlers not only because she is a lot of fun in the ring, but also just a great person in general, so having a signed version of her photobook is very special to me. But the main reason I love this photobook is simply because Kris is a great photographer. This isn’t a situation where a random person happens to have a nice camera, the pictures are taken very well and the wrestlers look completely natural, like they are enjoying themselves and not posing for pictures. The natural poses and easy going nature of the pictures makes them feel more real and less staged.

It is also the most in-depth Stardom photobook, as even though it is not full size, it has a very impressive number of wrestlers that participated. Every Stardom wrestler at the time is in the book, plus some gaijin that were in town such as Star Fire and Mystique. Another plus is that the photos are tasteful and don’t use sexuality to make the photos stand out. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy scantily clad women as well, but the fact the photos are so compelling without that shows both the skill level of the photographer and the natural beauty of the wrestlers. Yuna Manase couldn’t help herself, but all the other wrestlers were dressed in either their wrestling attire, casual attire, or business attire.

If you can get your hands on it, I highly recommend picking it up. I can’t sell mine since it is autographed, so you are on your own 🙂 Below I have a very small sample of the pictures available in the photobook.